Maximum Ride: The other Girl
by WickerandStone
Summary: Max and the Flock set out on the mystery of Anacrim. co and find out they are not so alone...
1. Chapter 1

You know where there are these butterflies battering around in your stomach, before something big, something important? You can't sit down, you can't relax, and you're constantly on edge. Well, I had that feeling running through me like electricity, ready to electrocute anything or anyone who gets to close. We were about to break into a place called _Arcanim. _It's a company that has kept repeating on _Itex_ searches. With more research, we found out it was an Engineering Facility that worked on machines for Biomedicine. Fang and I thought we should take a break from Real-estate and check it out. I was now sitting on a couch at a grisly motel, close to the giant 'bon fire' we had back in Austin. Iggy's been distant since we left Addison behind and Fang has been staring at me steadily for the last hour. I hated it when he does that.

I check my watch and sighed.

"Let's go, I can't take this anymore" I whined. I stood up and sat back down.

"We can't go now, wait till dark" said Fang, relaxed. I glanced at him, his dark eyes watching me patiently like a parent's. I looked outside the grimy window, watching the sun sink slowly.

"Look! The sun's already sinking, by the time we're there-" I started.

"Stop, Max" said Fang, with a steely voice. I glared at him for a moment and then looked away. He was acting more like a parent every day. I missed mom more and more every day, I also missed my step sister but I can't be weak now. I had a family to take care of here, my flock.

When night had finally set, I was ready to shave my head and call it a day. Fang found my nerves humorous and had this smirk on his lips. We had gone on Google Maps (high fives to the people who thought of that) and memorized the route. My built-in GPS was telling me that we were a few metres of route and I titled my wings to get back on it. The butterflies in my stomach eased as I coursed through the sky, the chaos in my head becoming more organized. When I saw the top of a large brick building I knew we had arrived. It was either my sharp instincts or the sign on the front lawn saying _Arcanim_ but something about this building screamed _Place of evil doings._ The lights weren't on and it seemed quiet. We had no plan, just steely determination and that was enough for me.

"Ready, Flock?" I asked, over the roar of the wind. They all nodded and I titled my wings towards the building. We swooped in, in a triangular formation. Total was still have a rough time flying and glided a little awkwardly towards the building.

"You'd think they'd give a manual with these contraptions" he moaned, glaring at his little wings.

I landed gracefully on the top of the building, waiting for the rest of them to land. Total almost went face first if Angel's careful arms hadn't caught him. I put "Flying 101" on my to-do list for him.

"Okay, there's a window under us, I'll bust through and you follow" I said to them. I held onto the building's edge, feeling my hands burn on the concrete. I swung my feet through the window and the shattering glass fell to the floor. I jumped in and looked around. It was very dark inside the building, the moonlight was the only light available. Quiet thuds followed me and I checked that all of them were inside. Angel placed Total on the ground and Nudge was last to jump in. I turned left in the hall, moving quickly. The building was set out almost like a hospital, large florescent lights above and linoleum white tiles on the floor. I past a few doors with doctors' and presidents' names on them until I found the room I was looking for. My eyes had adjusted to the darkness quickly and I was able to move around more comfortably. The door was white like all the other ones but it was locked. _I.T Lab_ was scrawled on it. I twisted at the handle and tried to push it open with my shoulder.

"Stand back" said Fang. Before he could hurtle his foot at me, I moved out of the way and it smacked the door into two. He went in first and I followed, gingerly. Inside there were several computers on desks, several file cabinets and what seemed a projection set up. My mind moved quickly, figuring out the next step in seconds.

"Nudge, follow me to the computers. Fang, stay watch with Angel and Total. Ig and Gazzy, see if you can watch the movie with the projector" I ordered. I moved quickly to the first computer and turned it on. A little blue window popped up, with a password.

"Nudge" I said.

"On it" she mumbled, placing her hand on the keyboard. She closed her eyes and I could see her brows furrow in the blue light of the screen.

"Try _edmund2892_" she said, her eyes certain. I typed it in quickly and the computer logged me in. We had little time if the building had a silent alarm and those damn scientists will have us soon if we didn't hurry. I could see a little flicker in the corner of my eye and I looked up to see Gazzy watching a movie on the projection screen. I left him to make sense of it and turned back to the computer screen.

I clicked on the little icon that had _File Information_ under it. Another password window popped up.

"Why are people so secretive lately" I muttered sarcastically.

"I hear footsteps" said Iggy, a frazzled look on his face. My head shot up.

"How many?" I asked.

"I don't know, their kind of muffled. About seven" he said. That's when Fang burst through the door, with Angel and Total following.

"We gotta' go, Angel just saw people outside" he said.

"Nudge, hurry" I said, hastily. She placed her hand on the keyboard. She typed something than erased it then typed something again and erased that too.

"I can't, there are too many numbers" she muttered.

"You have to" I groaned.

"They're getting closer!" Iggy hissed through clenched teeth. Nudge closed her eyes again and typed in something else. She pressed enter. The window read and loaded the page. We both breathed out long relieved sighs. My eyes scrolled down the page until something caught them. _N.O 157564089_Experiement Aviation _it said. I double clicked on it and it popped up. I read over it and saw my name, Fang's and Gazzy's on it.

"Nudge, go to Cabinet 3, letter A and look for Aviation!" I said, reading it from the top of the page and pushing her toward the cabinets. She opened it, flipped through a few and pulled out a white folder. She handed it to me and I tucked it under my arm.

"Let's go!" I shouted, running for the door. Gazzy left the movie playing and followed.

"Their gaining!" shouted Iggy. "They must've heard us!"

"Let's split up! Fang, take Nudge and Gazzy downstairs and keep them distracted. I'll take Iggy and Angel up!" I shouted. He nodded and turned around. Total leapt into Angel's arms and now we were running through the halls looking for the broken window. When I found it, I helped Angel and Iggy out until they were in the air. I heard footsteps getting closer and wondered if they were the rest of the Flock's. I saw a few men running towards me and decided that they weren't. I was about to stand and fight until I saw the pistols in their hands. I ran up the stairs as quickly as I could, hearing bullets shooting past me. When I got to the top floor, my legs were starting to burn. There was a door leading outside on the roof. I pushed it open and went through. I had the folder under my arm and was ready to run and leap off the side of the building until I heard someone's voice being cleared. I turned around and sitting on the vent of the roof was a dark shadow.

"Hello there, nice night for a fly isn't it?" said a bell-like voice, a girl's voice. The shadow jumped from the vent and moved closer. Now I could see her face and it was surprisingly beautiful.

"Is there a chance of me seeing that little folder of yours?" she said with a smile. I hugged the folder, closer to my body.

"Who are you?" I asked her. My heart was beating hard but I kept my tone light.

"It's a secret" she said, with a cunning smile. She held out her hand in the moonlight. Her skin was pale, her hair almost black and her eyes were a sharp olive green. She watched me intently as I backed away.

"No, no. Don't do that! I might come after you" she said with a wink.

"I doubt that" I said, unfurling my wings. She looked at my wings for a moment, the expression on her face not wavering. Suddenly I felt something hard landing in the middle of my stomach. The air rushed out of me and I collapsed. There was this awful pain burning on my stomach. I looked up at the girl who was still standing where she used to be. She walked over, casually and picked up the folder. She was wearing only black and her dark hair was long.

"How'd you do that?!" I hissed at her.

"It's a secret" she said again. I got to my knees, grabbing onto my stomach when it ached. I looked at her again and that's when I saw the two long shiny black wings jutting from her back. My eyes widened. I couldn't get a question out.

"Seeya' around, Max" she said with a smile.


	2. Chapter 2

"What was her name?" asked Fang, his eyes and tone were frustrated.

"I don't know" I said, it felt like the hundredth time I've said that. We were back at the motel and it was about 3 am in the morning. I had already let Gazzy, Nudge and Angel go to bed while we talked about the Femme Fatale that showed up.

"Why did she want the folder?" he asked.

"I don't know!" I exclaimed.

"What do you know?" he asked.

"That she has wings, that she can fly and that she has some weird mutation that can hurt us!" I retorted. When the girl had flown of and the flock found me, my t-shirt gaping hole in it and the edges of that hole was seared just where my stomach was hit. This scared us more than ever. It meant that we weren't alone and that someone else is out there, more powerful than us. Fang sighed. Iggy opened his mouth than closed it again. He hasn't said a word since we left and that's very unlike him.

"What's up, Ig?" I asked. He looked up in my direction, his eyes glazing over.

"The one person that's like us and she's trying to kill us" he muttered.

"Technically she didn't try to kill anyone" said Fang. I raised an eyebrow.

"Hello? Gaping hole in shirt!" I said, pointing to my shirt in revelation. Fang gave me one of his looks and went on.

"When you didn't hand over the files she injured you, she hadn't tried to kill you" he said.

"How do you know?" asked Iggy.

"Because, I have feeling she would have succeeded if she was out to kill us" he said. Iggy's eyes started to shoot around the room like he did when he's nervous. I was expecting a triumphant look on Fang's face but I was surprised when he turned to me with a look of concern.

"What were on the files?" he asked me.

"They were about us, just us" I said.

"Why would she want files on us?" asked Iggy. Fang shook his head.

"This is getting way weird" he muttered.

"Maybe she's planning on killing us, she's just doing research to see if we're gonna' be hard to kill!" I exclaimed.

"She's not going to kill us" muttered Fang.

"Well sorry, Yoda. I forgot of your all knowing power, oh wait! I just remembered, that's probably 'because you don't have it!" I retorted. He gave me a withering look and fell into an armchair. I heard Iggy snicker and I was happy that I could at least be entertaining.

"We should get some sleep; did Gazzy tell you what was on the movie?" I asked Iggy.

"Yeah, it was about some sort of machine that could create DNA from people using its memory of the person" he said.

"That's impossible" I muttered.

"I know, the machine didn't work. The movie was like from the 20th century or something" he said. Iggy got up and walked to the boys' room. Fang followed and I went to check on Nudge and Angel before I went to bed. They seemed sound asleep so I slumped over to the couch. The couch was uncomfortable but it was better than a concrete floor in the subway. I fell asleep easily enough.

When I woke up the smell of bacon filled my nostrils. I opened my eyes, breathing in the wonderful scent. I also heard the sizzling of eggs and the shower running.

"Coffee?" I mumbled, walking into the small kitchen. Iggy forced a hot cup into my hands and I drank appreciatively. Iggy was standing over the stove making breakfast. The boy had a talent, what can say?

I walked into Nudge and Angel's bedroom.

"Wake up, kids. There's a world that needs saving" I said, shaking Nudge's shoulder.

"Five more minutes" she muttered.

"In five minutes, we'd all be dead and wouldn't that make you feel bad?" I asked her. She sat up, rubbing her eyes. Angel was already by my side to my surprise, she's usually acts like the Exorcist in the morning. Her blond hair was dishevelled and curls hung in her eyes.

"Is that coffee?" she asked me. I handed her the cup and she drank the rest. Total was still rolled up on her bed, snoring softly. I flicked his ear and he growled.

"Can't a man sleep for five minutes?!" he asked.

"Yes, but sadly you are a dog" I said, with a grin. I walked from their room and I could hear the mischievous giggle of a little blond boy.

"Good morning, Gazzy. Put down the bomb, please" I said, not even giving him a glance. I knew he had something in his hands that could put us seven feet in the air.

"Fine" he muttered, placing a blue cylinder shape on his bed. Fang walked out from the bathroom, his black hair dripping water onto his grey t-shirt.

"Breakfast's ready" said Iggy, turning of the stove. I was always amazed at how he could tell. We ate, talking about the girl that had attacked me. Fang seemed the most interested which itched at me a little.

"What did she look like?" he asked me.

"Can't remember" I muttered.

"Was she pretty?" he asked again.

"I do not know! Why don't you put out a personal add in the paper?" I hissed back at him. He looked at Iggy and Iggy seemed to be on the edge of laughter. I huffed and pushed my scrambled eggs around my plate.

"What will we be doing today?" asked Angel.

"Backtracking" I said without hesitation. "That girl has important files; we need to get them back"

"So we're going after a girl that may be dangerous, for some files?" asked Iggy.

"Not just any files, _the_ files. And she is dangerous, period" I said.

So there we were again, on the roof of one of _Arcanim_'s branches, just where we were last night. It was day and the sun was blistering. We had been standing here for about thirty seconds.

"What now?" asked Nudge.

"We follow in her direction" I said.

"Which way did she go?" asked Iggy.

"South" I said, pointing in the direction.

"And how long was she planning on going south? Let's be serious, we can't find her like this" he muttered.

"Any other ideas?" I asked. The Flock stayed quiet.

"I rest my case" I said, triumphantly.

We flew back to the motel, grabbed our ratty backpacks and filled them with non-perishable food and some warmer clothing.

"Angel, leave some space in yours, just in case Total needs help" I said. She nodded and took out an extra shirt.

By early afternoon, we were in the sky, going south from the _Arcanim_ base. I had no idea where this was taking us, or how we were going to find her but I knew we had to find her.


	3. Chapter 3

We were just under the border of Texas and Mexico when we decided to rest. Nudge had spotted a deep dug-out cave in the middle of a wasteland, which could shield us against the scorching sun. I had my legs stretched out in the sun and the rest of my body in the shade of the cave. I had missed the sun and its warmth was a wonder to me. The rest of the Flock was inside, drinking from half empty water bottles and rubbing their shoulders. It reminded me that we'd have to look for a place to get water soon.

"We'll stay here for ten more minutes and then we have to roll. I want to be out of here before noon" I said to the Flock. I got a few tired nods. Gazzy was teetering on the edge of the darkness in the cave, calling echoes into the night of the cave.

"Hello?!" he shouted into the mouth. His voice came back muffled.

"How deep is it?" asked Iggy.

"It seems to go on forever" said Gazzy with a mischievous smile. I recognized the look in his eyes.

"No, we don't have time for your _Dora the Explorer_ time. Stay here" I said sternly to Gazzy. He sighed and fell onto his bottom.

Five minutes later when I turned to get a water bottle from my backpack him and Iggy was gone.

"I curse him to the deepest part in Hades!" I hissed. Fang smirked.

"Should we go after them?" asked Angel. I looked to Fang and he gave a slight shake, one that only I could tell meant no.

"We'll wait" I said. "God forbid some horrid creature eats them" I muttered sarcastically.

After five minutes of waiting, my skin was crawling. What if some creature did get them? I would never forgive myself. **Maybe you shouldn't have listened to Fang **said the took me by surprise and I did a quick double take. _Didn't I tell you to get lost?_ I muttered at it. **If its worrying you so much, maybe you should've gone after them, instead of listening to Fang **it said, ignoring me. _Yeah, and maybe I should cut my eyes out_ I hissed. _Fang knows what he's doing, I trust him._ **I'm sorry, I hadn't realized that this was Fang's Flock** it retorted. I snorted but when I thought about it, Fang has been acting high and mighty all of the sudden. The feeling that I'm losing my rank wasn't a good one. _No, no! That's not true; you're just trying to make trouble_ I thought. **I'm here to help you, Max. I see what you see, Fang's been taking over. Hasn't he? **It said, the voice not wavering. I shook my head and Fang gave me a worried look.

"Are you okay?" he asked me. I shrugged away from him and nodded.

_You should stay out of it. I'm already weird enough with these wings; voices in my head won't help my case _I thought back bitterly. **You know you're special Max. More special than the rest of the Flock. Are you really going to let Fang take your spot?**

Just then a blast of energy surged through my head. Images popped up and flickered away. A map and a road sign with the name _Miami 300 miles _scrawled on it. A burning building and two dark shadows on top of the building. A pool or sea, lots of water. My head felt like it was splitting open from the pressure. I grunted and I could feel steady hands curl around my shoulders. Black feathers popped up. The pressure disappeared instantly and so did the images. I opened my eyes, looking straight into Fang's dark concerned eyes. He opened his mouth about to say something but then two voices where thrown at us.

"Guys! Guys! You'd never believe what we found!" shouted the voices.

"Iggy, Gazzy?!" I shouted back. They were okay, thank god. Two figures emerged from the dark. Gazzy had something in his hands.

"Look at these" he said, bringing them over to me. He had a small chip packet in his hands and -to my surprise- two pitch black feathers that gleamed. I held my breath recognizing it from the picture in my picture. They were so familiar, like a dream.

"Did you find these deeper in the cave?" asked Fang, looking over my shoulder.

"Yeah, about twenty metres in" said Iggy. Fang turned to me with a configuring look on his face.

"What does this mean?" asked Nudge, stepping closer.

"It means we're on the right track" I answered, taking the feathers in my hand.


	4. Chapter 4

We were headed for Miami. Sun, surf and a lot of leathery old people. I was happy to be staying away from the Arctic though, the cold and I never mixed well. I looked to my side at Fang. His quiet composure hadn't fooled me back in the cave, he knew something was wrong and his dark eyes kept searching me once and a while. We hadn't had one of our "moments" since coming back from Antarctica and I felt a huge fracture splitting up between us. Wasn't this good though? No confusing feelings, no constant awareness of each other. But still, I had this aching need to have him close and that pretty much sucked. And now that feeling of betrayal and unrest hung between us. How could he ask if she was pretty? What am I, chopped liver? Why is he trying to take over? I shook the questions from my head. I needed to focus on Miss Femme Fatale, no matter how annoyed I was, no matter how badly I wanted to force my fist into her face. That shirt was one of my favourites; she won't be getting out of our next confrontation without one of her t-shirts ruined. The picture of the feathers, Miami board and dark shadows were branded in my head. My mind seemed to drift there when it was unoccupied.

"You okay?" I heard the deep voice over the roar of the wind. I looked at Fang, his eyes darker than usual.

"Fine" I said, turning away from him. Could it of been possible that she was there? Watching us on the building from a distance without me even knowing it. A shiver ran up my spine. I looked down at the turning ocean of the Mexican Gulf. We've been to Florida once. The memory wasn't a good one. We had been flying for five hours non-stop. Total was already in Angel's backpack and she was struggling. I pulled my wings up and felt the air get caught in them. I slowed until I was next to Angel.

"Give me the backpack" I said, reaching for it. She shrugged it off and handed it to me. I shrugged mine off and handed it to her. When we were all strapped in, I zipped back in front. I could feel Total rustle inside the bag and his wet nose graze my neck.

"How long until we get there?" he asked.

"Not long, maybe thirty minutes at most" I said.

I was right, by 8 thirty we were in Miami, looking down at the lights of the city. The air had cooled down but instead of the dry air, it was moist and heavy.

I pointed down and we dived. There was a shaded bit without any bright lights. A park, it seemed. I landed smoothly past a few branches until I fell on one that could support my weight. The others were right behind me.

"Will we be making camp here for the night?" asked Nudge.

"I don't think we'll have to" murmured Fang. I turned to him, puzzled. My eyes widened as I saw what he was holding.

"She's here" he said, dropping the black feather. Nudge picked up the feather and held it next to Fang's wings.

"Compared to this feather, you're wings are brown" she said, looking at the feather with envy. Fang shrugged and looked at me.

"What now?" he asked. Finally, a chance to show I was the leader of this group, not him. And at that time, nothing came to mind. I had no plan, this was the final moment and I had nothing, nada, zilch. I tried to guess of something.

"Search the park" I said, looking around.

"Oh, that won't be necessary" said a cool, velvet voice. A shiver ran up my back. I turned slowly to look at her. Tall and cool, she stood straight on a branch, her pitch black wings glistening. _Like a crow_ I thought. Her green eyes were intelligent, cunning and also a little greedy. She held something white in her hands, the folder. She threw it to the ground and smiled.

"It's yours now, didn't have much in it anyway" she said.

"Who are you?" I asked my voice shaky. The Flock was still, only their feathers moved from the breeze.

"One of you, Max" she said, her voice sincere. I half frowned, half smirked.

"That's what they all say" I said.

"But it's true, if you don't believe me look here" she said. She pulled away her black sleeve, revealing a slight white puckered line just above her wrist. She mouthed the word _Microchip _with a playful smile. I could feel my mouth fall open and the look of disbelief was clear on all of our faces, even Fang's.

"I don't believe you" I said. Her head tilted to the side.

"You can trust me, I promise. I made a trail so you could follow me here. I'm sick of living in this world alone, thinking I was alone. Imagine my surprise when I saw a group of winged kids fly over a football stadium on T.V" she said, her words sincere. Fang and I looked at each other then, I made it clear on my face what I thought, _not to be trusted. _But in his dark eyes I saw what I didn't want to see, _one of us_, they shouted_._


	5. Chapter 5

There are seven of us. Always seven! We don't need anyone else. Especially not some Victoria's Secret model with wings. I could feel her eyes dig into mine as she watched intently for my decision. I couldn't say no though. Fang was obvious about that and as I looked around the Flock, all of them had that exact expression on their face, _one of us_. I tried to get stubborn, telling myself that I can't trust anyone; I'm not in the position to. But what if? And god, do I hate that question but still. I chose _what if _on Ari and that turned out to be a good decision.

"Ever heard of _Trial- base_s?" I asked her. Recollection flickered across her face and she smiled.

"I see, a bit of an audition. So what part will I be going for?" she asked. The Flock smirked and giggled.

"How about the _Crazy Bi_-" I began but Fang shot me a glare.

"The what?" she asked, politely.

"Nothing" I muttered.

"Cool, so I get trial- bases. You won't regret it" she said, with a charming smile.

"Fine, fine. But first you've got some explaining to do" I said.

"Shoot" she said.

"What's your name?"

"Amelia, but people just call me Amy" she answered.

"Did Itex make you?" I asked.

"Yes, before you" she said. I cocked an eyebrow.

"Before me?" I asked. She gave a quick nod.

"Let me start from the beginning, it's a long story but I'll give you the short version" she said. "I was made a few months before Max. I was their final test on avian-hybrid humanoids but then Jeb came along. He had an idea of rather making one sustaining being, they should create a group" she said the words without feeling but I could see in her eyes a slight bitterness.

"Of course, they had said _no, _millions of dollars went into me and they had no plan of making more. But then they found out a way to make hybrids a cheaper way, _test tube babies_. See, Max took my spot. I was going to the testing hybrid but when Jeb came with a better idea, I was cut. I wasn't worried at first, I was the expected leader. They kept us separate and trained me to my fullest so I could be a fulfilling leader to the _Flock_. But as we aged, Max's personality developed and with that an attitude that the scientist worried would over throw my leadership, so they had decided to terminate Max. Jeb wouldn't have it, because you were after all his daughter. So they chose to kill me instead" she said the words with sadness then but the bitterness had disappeared. We all blinked for a bit, trying to think of what to say next.

"But they didn't kill you" I muttered, not being able to look at her.

"I escaped the night before my termination date. I ransacked every computer there trying to find any information on my family. Luckily I did find some and I flew to them. Turns out I was stolen, hours after I was born" she said, with a sad smile. I felt a pang of guilt and sympathy towards her, even though she was annoying. But this could all be a story, made to do just that. She could be lying but something so clear in her eyes made me think twice.

"Why aren't you with your family?" asked Nudge. Amelia blinked hard and looked away from us.

"Itex soon found out where I was. My parents threatened to press charges if they didn't leave us alone. Two days later -it was a Sunday I think- erasers came and they told me to hide. When I came out of the closet I was hiding in they were gone and my parents were..." she couldn't finish. My eyes burned and I looked away, I didn't want to cry. Girls cry, not avian-hybrids.

"We never knew about you" said Fang, politely. His eyes –that usually showed nothing- were kind and open. My stomach turned uneasily.

"I only knew that I was supposed to lead you for a test" she said, still not looking at us. "I learned everything after on the information I got from the computers"

I stood there, silent for a minute. I didn't know what I should do now. I didn't have training missions. I had an uneasy feeling in my stomach about this. Was she angry at me? Was she angry at Jeb? Did Jeb really care that much? Those damn questions were filling up my mind again and I couldn't bare to answer them.

"Okay, I think we should go eat something" I said.


	6. Chapter 6

I was watching her from across the table, talking, laughing and plucking French fries from Fang's plate. It was enough to make me want to hurl my fork at her, but I didn't. Should've, but didn't. We were at a diner, just out of the city. We were sitting in a booth, far away from any windows or people. She turned to me, a pleasant smile on her face. Why did she smile so much? She can frown once and while too.

"Can I pay?" she asked.

"With what?" I hissed back.

"Bank card" she said, slipping an _American Express_ from her pocket. We stared at it, wide eyed.

"Where did you get? You didn't steal it, did you?" my words were scolding. Yeah, we've stolen cards but only in desperate need and it was from somebody rich and we felt horrible afterwards.

"Yes, but only from some rich sap. I pinched it back in Tampa from a guy with a Lamborghini" she said. The Flock nodded in understanding and I nodded in defeat.

"That reminds me, you guys don't have a place to stay. Do you?" she asked, looking at us. The Flock shook their heads.

Well, I have a place in Tampa; it was my parents' house. No one will be looking for us there, on paper it says that the house was destroyed by a fire" she said.

"I don't think we should-" I began.

"That'd be great, Amy. It's close by too" Fang chipped in. My stomach growled angrily. I kicked Fang under the table, hard. He turned to me, his face stunned.

"What?" I asked him. He smirked and went back to watching Amelia. My fist bunched up.

"I don't think we should go" I said. The Flock turned to me with surprise looks. Amelia was unperturbed like always.

"I thought this was on trial-bases. There's still a lot we don't know about you and I'm not about to risk the Flocks' lives" I said, simply. She nodded, taking in my words.

"That's understandable. But I promise you can trust me. We need to stick together" she said. The rest of the Flock nodded in agreement. I sighed and rubbed my temples.

"Fine" I said. I tapped Angel's hand and thought "Sense anything bad?". Her head gave the slightest shake and the rest of my hope was squashed. We'd actually have to do this.

"Anybody still hungry?" I asked.

"Yeah, can I get some more French fries?" asked Iggy.

"Me too" asked Gazzy.

"I'll help you" said Amelia, getting up. I shot her a look that made her sit straight down.

"No, Fang can help me. Thanks" I forced through my teeth. Fang got out the booth with me, a look of disdain on his face. We ordered French fries and waited for our order.

"You couldn't say two nice words, could you?" he muttered.

"You know, I think I liked the quiet Fang better" I said, crossing my arms. He grabbed my shoulder and spun me around.

"She's one of us, Max. Why can't you see that?" he asked.

"Unlike you, who can fall for any trick in heels, I have a responsibility for the kids on that table!" I hissed back.

"They trust her too, stop fighting it. All that's getting in the way is your pride" he said, his face was so close to mine, I could feel his breathe.

"My pride? You are such a shallow pig. You don't see anything further than your nose!"

"Then what is it, Max? 'Cause you're mood swings are twisting my neck into knots!" he hissed back.

"I don't have mood swings!" I retorted.

"_Mood wings_, then!" he threw back.

"Ha-ha-ha, very clever darling. Aren't you creative?"

"You're unbelievable! You've been dragging us along this friggin' country looking for others and now that we've found one, you're running the other direction!"

"Better believe it, Bub! Like I said, I'm not about to risk the Flocks' lives" I repeated.

"The Flocks' lives or their leadership?" he asked me, staring into my eyes.

"Fang-" I said, surprised. The feeling I had running around my throat and eyes burned. He shook his head and grabbed the plates of French fries. He stalked off to our table, leaving me behind. I wouldn't be making this decision out of pride. Nobody knew me anymore; it seemed that Amelia had smoke screened their eyes and told them only lies about me. But this wasn't Amelia's fault. This began long ago. Had I really been dragging them across the country in my own selfishness?


	7. Chapter 7

You could probably guess where we were. Yeah, I killed Amelia back in Miami and threw her corpse in a washing machine and now we were in prison. Joking, I'm joking, you may relax. She's still with us, flying high and annoying. We were just about to land in Tampa, the home of the brave and flying children, well at least new home. I had never thought of living in Tampa, something about the two Itex locations kind of put me off. They were run down and empty though and that fear is no excuse for me anymore. I was flying next to Iggy, while Fang flew just behind Miss Thang. I used to fly there. I sighed and looked at her. Her black hair was darker than Fang's and her wings were breathtaking, I couldn't deny it. She was my opposite, absolute opposite. Where I was tanned, she was pale. My eyes are dark and her eyes are light. My hair is blond and her hair is black. It was like Fang was going on a Hannah Montana tour for the Best of Both Worlds and I was sadly one of those worlds.

I had the feeling that I wasn't leading anymore. That I had fallen behind and the rest of the Flock was one step ahead. The feeling was uncomfortable and sometimes nauseating. I had lost my place and it was my all fault. But I knew the Flock better than any other person and I could change what was heading for us. It was day and I could see us hovering over a small suburb full of houses.

"Down there" said Amelia, pointing to the ground. I followed her gaze to a double story country house. It was a nice size and had a good garden.

"It's nice" I said. There was a bunch of gleeful remarks from the Flock and we dived down. The house had a small driveway and hedges outgrowing their places. The air smelled nice and the sun was warm. It didn't remind me at all of Virginia which was even better. I looked to Fang. He had a small smile on his lips as he looked at the house. _I miss you _I thought to him. I knew he couldn't hear me. But he still turned to me with gentle eyes. Something passed between us then, a look of desperation maybe. He then looked at Amelia as she was opening the door. We walked inside and I could feel the coolness of the house spill out from the door. I realized that the aircon was on.

"Did you live here before going to Austin?" I asked.

"Yeah, I did" she answered. The house smelled like citrus and pine needles. It was clean and the wooden floors were shiny.

"Do you clean it yourself?" I asked. She turned and nodded. For someone that's had trouble surviving, she doesn't seem to in trouble. We didn't even have a house, not for long anyway.

"There are four bedrooms. You guys wouldn't mind sharing, would you?" she asked heading upstairs. Everybody shook their head and as we followed I was able to catch a glimpse of the living room. It had two cream sofas and a flat screen TV. I cocked my eyebrow. How is she able to afford this? Don't people do check up on lots after fires?

She led us down a hall, the one wall covered in black and white photos.

"Each bedroom has two beds. There's two there and two there" she said, pointing them out. "There's a bathroom between them and another one downstairs"

I walked into one of the bedrooms while the rest of the group split up into other ones. Gazzy was sharing with Iggy, Nudge was sharing with Angel and Fang was lucky to have his own and just share it with Total. When I turned Amelia was standing right behind me.

"What are you doing in here?" I asked her.

"I'm sharing with you" she said, with a look of puzzlement on her face.

"Oh no, I don't think so" I said, shaking my head.

"Oh, okay. I could swap with Total" she recommended. I swallowed and balled my fists.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" I hissed.

"Like what?" she asked, cocking her eyebrow in confusement.

"Rooming with Fang!" I retorted.

"No, not really" she said, thinking about it like it was a normal question. I paused with my mouth open. I had the feeling she that she wasn't very observant. I sighed and put my back pack on the bed next to the window looking out at the driveway. She put a small black back pack on her bed. She walked over to her closet and opened it.

"You are my size, I think. If you need clothes, you can borrow mine until we buy some for you" she offered with a kind smile. My cheeks reddened as I responded.

"Thanks" I muttered.

Taking a shower was a luxury in my life so I spend at least an hour washing the grime and blood of me. When I was happy at my hygiene, I got dressed in the clothes I picked out of Amelia's abundant closet. I was wearing a pair of denim shorts, a band t-shirt and my old pair of sneakers. I dried my wet hair until it was wavy and golden blond. Not to sound cocky but I looked good. I walked out of the shower, spotting Fang coming out of his room. All I had to do was to talk to him. Straighten everything out and figure out what we were going to do next, but my stubborn _Maxness _made me flip my hair and ignore him while I walked past. I could feel his stare on my back as I walked away. Yeah, that worked much better.

Downstairs in the Kitchen was Iggy and Amelia, bent over a pan with frying chicken pieces.

"Hey" I said, looking at what they were cooking. Amelia turned and smiled but I ignored her.

"Whatcha' making?" I asked.

"Chicken for the salad" said Iggy. He was clearly enjoying himself, surrounded by all those spices.

"Okay, when you're done, I need to talk to all of you" I said. I had the file with me still; I wanted to go over it with the Flock. I hadn't opened it yet.

And there we were, sitting in the living room. I was sitting next to Nudge and Fang while Amelia was in an armchair and Gazzy, Angel and Iggy were on the other couch. I opened the folder, the Flock watched me the anticipation.

"Okay, the first page is a bunch of _hoo-ha_ need-to-know" I said scanning over the page. I turned to the next page which had a picture of me and my attributes. I was about to turn the page but something caught my eye. In a small box was written:

_Species type: Osprey __(Pandion haliaetus)_

I cocked my eyebrow. _Osprey_? Is that the type of bird DNA I'm mixed with?

"Fang, can you get the laptop, please?" I asked, not taking my eyes from the page. I had heard of those birds before, but I didn't know much. We never knew what bird DNA we were mixed with. Fang came back, holding his laptop.

"Look up _Osprey_" I said.

"Why? What does it say?" asked Nudge. Fang typed quickly and double clicked on a picture of the bird. He turned the screen towards me and there they were, my wings. They stretched long and looked almost the exact same as mine. I held my breath as I looked at them.

"It says what bird species' DNA we have" I said, still a little breathless.

"No way!" said Gazzy.

"What's mine, what's mine?!" squealed Nudge, grabbing at the folder. I grabbed it from her and held it close to me.

"Easy, easy. We'll do this with control. I'll go by order of the folder" I said, seeing them simmer down. I turned the page again, seeing a photo of Amelia. I swallowed at how pretty she looked in her picture. How can I compare to this? I refocused and read her species.

"Amelia, you're a _Black Eagle_" I said. I was close enough on the _Crow_-comment but there was a difference between a Black Eagle and a crow. One was good and the other was bad. The end. I cursed my simple logic to heck. It did explain how shiny and black her feathers were. There was a bunch of _ooohhs_ and _aahhs_ for the Flock which I didn't understand. I'm an _osprey_ for god sakes, isn't that cool?

I turned the page and a picture of Fang popped up. I scanned the page until I saw his species.

"Fang, you're a _Black Crested Buzzard"_ I said, trying to keep in my laughter. Buzzard? What a stupid name for someone that's so… yeah. Iggy muffled his laughter while Fang took it in his stride with a slight smile.

"Cool" he said. I turned the page again and saw a picture of Nudge.

"Nudge, you're a _Grey Faced Buzzard_" I said, noticing how Fang and Nudge were practically real family.

"That can't be right" she said, grabbing the laptop and typing in the name. A picture of a tawny winged bird popped up and she shut up.

I turned the page again and an adorable picture of Angel was on the page. I tried not to coo too much and checked her species.

"Angel, you're a Gyrfalcon" I said, with a smile. She nodded and giggled.

I don't want to bore you with the rest or the very, very, very long argument Iggy and Gazzy had, comparing each other's species in unlikely events. But, it ends up that Iggy was a Dusky Hawk and Gazzy was White Collared Kite. Don't get me wrong, learning this was so very cool and we all did some major research on it but the rest of the folder was a bore and a real disappointment. We were hoping for at least a little unknown info about our parents or other companies that were involved but none was given.

After dinner, I walked outside and flew up onto the roof. The sun was setting and the air was starting to get chilly. I unfurled my wings and folded them around my body, blocking the wind.

"Are you cold?" asked a low voice. A shiver ran down my spine_. Fang_.

"I'm fine" I muttered, not looking at him. He sat down next to me and gave me looked at me hard.

"Why don't you drop the _Pride Game_ and give her a chance?" he asked me. I looked at him from the corner of my eye.

"You know why I don't want to" I said.

"I don't. Sometimes I think I do and then you change again" he said, looking into my eyes.

"I'm afraid for the Flock, Fang. She can do things we can't and I won't let her use that on them" I said, looking away from his hypnotic eyes. This was the first time I had really spoken to him like this. A new foot in maturity? I think _yes_.

"That's not all though. What's going on, Max?" he asked.

"I feel like people are trying to take my Flock away from me. And I feel like they should because I have been selfish at my choices" I said, swallowing my tears. I didn't want to cry in front of Fang.

"Nobody's trying to take anything from you, Max. And you've been amazing to the _Flock_ and we all care for you" he said the words uncomfortably. I could see the slightest hint of red in his cheek while mine were on fire. Suddenly, he grabbed my hand and I held my breath.

"Max, Amelia isn't trying to take me away from you. I… I love you" he said, with a hint of a smile. I stood there, speechless and dead quiet. The right answer would have been to say _I love you too, _right? Yeah, I didn't do that. Instead, I sat there looking like an idiot. Fang waited and waited for what seemed an hour but was only five seconds for me to return it. And I knew I felt it, I really did feel it but I couldn't get it passed my lips.

"Fang, I-" I began.

"Forget it" he muttered and for a split second I could see his eyes break. He jumped from the roof and unfurled his wings. I stared after him as he flew off.


	8. Chapter 8

I watched after Fang for a few seconds, seeing his dark shadow disappear in the sky. I jumped from the roof and walked inside. Angel was in the kitchen, sitting on the worktop. I came in and poured a glass of water for myself. She watched me carefully, knowing what I was thinking.

"What? Are you going to say 'I told you so'? Why didn't you see this coming?" I asked her, incredulous.

"Why didn't you?" she asked and jumped from the tabletop. She walked from the kitchen and I sighed. Angel was changing, I could feel it. She's getting older and with that, the innocent façade is disappearing. Not that she had much innocence in her but still. I took the glass of water to my room upstairs. Iggy and Gazzy were still comparing their bird species in the other room while I went to sit down on my bed. I cradled my head and did something I hadn't done in a long time, I cried. I was absolutely silent as the tears streamed down my face. I sniffed and blubbered.

"Max?" said a voice. I turned, seeing Amelia standing in the threshold. Her mouth was open and her eyes confused. I coughed and wiped the tears away quickly. My face was hot as I looked at my hands.

"What?" I hissed. She held her arm and looked away.

"Are you alright?" she didn't look at me.

"Just dandy!" I muttered, wiping more tears away. She teetered over the threshold and swooped in. She closed the door and went to sit next to me, grabbing tissues from the bed table drawer. She gave them to me and I wiped the tears away and blew my nose loudly. Amelia looked over me, only concern in her eyes.

"Where's Fang?" she said, grasping what had happened.

"Dunno' but he'll be back by morning" I said, it had been the first time I had answered her without a sneer or sarcastic comment. She shook her head.

"Men" she muttered.

"No, Max" I said. She looked at me from the corner of her eye.

"This isn't your fault, Max" she said.

"Yes it is, use to be yours and now it's mine"

She swallowed and composed herself.

"I know you don't like me-" she began.

"You're right, I don't" I chipped in.

It didn't faze her, she continued. "- but you don't know me. People are afraid of what they don't understand. I mean, look at how people treat us. You don't have to like me, but you have to trust me"

"Trust is earned" I retorted.

"I'm sorry I hurt you back at _Arcanim_. I needed those folders so you could follow me, but you just wouldn't give them. I was desperate, but it was stupid to do it" she apologized, sincerely.

"How do you do it?" I asked.

"It's a mutation, I think. I use to be able to sense heat around peoples' bodies and I think that mutated into being able to make a chemical reaction in the air and cause an explosion or things to set on fire" she said, playing with her nails. I raised my eyebrows.

"That's amazing" I said. She smiled.

"I'm not here to take them away from you, Max. You're definitely the better leader" she said.

"How do you know that?" I asked.

"Well, if the erasers hadn't killed them, I would've. They are such a handful! I would at least leave one in a bathroom stall at Burger King" she joked. I laughed, feeling my eyes dry.

"The fact that you were able to lead them for so long is a mystery in itself. A miracle, I don't even think Oprah could beat you" she smiled. "I mean Iggy is blind and to top that off he's as sarcastic and ill-tempered as an old man. Gazzy is the most maniacal and gaseous –which I think you should check up- kid I have ever met. Angel is just plain adorably creepy. Fang doesn't say a word and Nudge can't shut up, Total thinks he's a human and don't get me started with that Max girl" she ranted, nudging me. I laughed, feeling my stomach whine.

"And here I was, thinking I was the only one thinking that" I chuckled. After a while of joking around she turned to me, her face dead serious.

"Are we okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, we're okay" I answered. _For now _I thought. She got up from my bed and climbed in hers. At that moment I heard the slight whine of a window open.

"That's probably him" she said, hearing the sound as well. I stood up from my bed and took a breath.

Downstairs was dark but I could make out the silhouette with jutting objects coming from its back. Fang. He saw me standing and staring at him. I saw his dark eyes flicker.

"Fang" I said.

"Not now" he muttered.

"Yes now" I said firmly. He turned to me, an exasperated look on his face.

"You took me by surprise, okay? I didn't ask for it" I said. He smirked, harshly.

"None of this was ever planned, Max. And I didn't ask for it either, but I thought you'd be happy" he said, looking away.

"I-I" I couldn't think of a response.

"Save it, you weren't. As to be expected, not even I could penetrate you're cold cynical heart" he said the words with scorn. I widened my eyes at him.

"And as to be expected, you ended up ruining everything" I retorted.

"I ruined nothing! It all started with you" he hissed.

"This, you, us was a waste of my time! You messed my head up and only confused me. This is all just good riddance!" I hissed back. He stepped back from the blow and I turned to leave. He didn't look at me when he said it.

"I don't know what's worse. The fact that you can't say you love me or that you're too afraid to"

I turned and slapped him, hard. It had taken him by surprise and I could see his eyes widen unexpectedly as my hand reached for his face. When I made contact, guilt instantly filled me. He didn't reach for his face or hurt me back. He just looked at his feet as he pushed passed me and went up the stairs.


	9. Chapter 9

When I woke, last night felt like a dream, a really awful dream. The sound of clanking and the smell of eggs wafted to me. I stood up wearily, looking outside at the sun. It hung already high in the sky. My eyes flickered to the clock, it was already 10 am. I walked downstairs, hearing the distant sounds of voices. I walked into the kitchen and saw my flock, chatting and pouring glasses of orange juice. Iggy and Nudge were focused on cooking, while Angel and Gazzy filled the cups. The sun flooded through the kitchen because of the wide windows. In the corner of the kitchen were Fang and Amelia. Intimately close and talking intently, I almost felt like I was intruding. My heart ached and my throat filled with angry remarks. But I swallowed them and put my fingers to my chest. This was harder than I thought it would be.

***

This is harder then Fang thought it would be. She was so pretty, standing there watching him. He tried to focus on Amelia but it was hard. Max's hair shone golden in the sunlight and her deep brown eyes were so sad. And that adorable pinch of skin between her brows appeared when she got annoyed. Fang swallowed but ignored her. To annoy her more, he put his hand on the countertop, blocking Max and cornering Amelia closer to him. Amelia's face didn't change but he could see the recognition in them. Even though it happened last night, the side of his face still burned with embarrassment and anger. Amelia was talking about a quarry with a small waterfall near her house that she use to go to.

"We should maybe go there again" she said aloud so everybody could hear. Fang gave a solemn nod.

"Foods' ready" said Iggy. Fang took his arm away so Amelia could go to the dining room. Max watched the flock leave while Fang stayed behind. He didn't meet her eyes. It would be too hard to hide what he felt. He felt anger and he wanted to hurt her, like she hurt him but he also wanted to break down. _Just play it cool_ he thought.

*******

"I-" I began.

"We should probably get to breakfast, we don't want them waiting" said Fang with one of his faint smiles. I took me back for a bit, surprised at his mood. I blinked. Fang started for the door but I grabbed his arm.

"They've already started; we've known them longer than yesterday. Maybe we should talk" I said, not looking at him.

"About what?" he said, generally confused. But I knew Fang well enough to know when he was avoiding things.

"About last night" I said, my eyes looking past him.

***

Fang swallowed his anger and tried his faint smile again.

"Don't worry about it. I was out of line. And I think it would be best if we just be friends" he rambled past the words nervously but sincerely. When it came to lying, he was the best. Her eyes widened in hurt and Fang felt sudden guilt but he kept his face straight.

"That's fine" she forced through her teeth.

"Cool, let's eat" he said, putting the fake smile on his lips again and patted her shoulder when he walked to the dining room.

***

I sat far away from him, as far as the table allowed me. It hurt to hear his voice, to look at him, to feel him there. I pushed my eggs around the plate, not feeling hungry. After breakfast, I went upstairs to take a shower. I stood under the shower head for an hour. When I climbed out I dried myself off and pulled on some clothes. I fell onto my bed and sighed, looking at the streams of sunlight on my legs from the window.

"God, good morning, Sunshine!" said Amelia sarcastically. She walked in and sat on the corner of my bed, completely at ease. She rested on her hands and looked at me, tilting her head.

"He's playing dirty, dear. I just know it" she said. I cocked my eyebrow at her.

"What do ya' mean?" I asked.

"It's obvious that he's trying to make you feel worse by acting as if it is all okay. Trying to hurt you, like you hurt him" she said.

"Please, he looked straight at me and said it honestly" I said, looking up at the ceiling so traitor tears wouldn't fall.

"A boy can't fall out of love that easily. He's playing a game with you and he's winning" she said. I shot up with raised eyebrows.

"Winning? I'm gonna' kick his ass" I said, angrily starting to climb off the bed. Amelia stopped me and laughed.

"This isn't a bar fight, its love. All the jibes and punches have to be sneaky. You gotta' play with his mind" she said.

"How?" I asked, not being that experienced on the whole dating regime.

"Act happy, act like you don't need him. Go back to the way you two were before the relationship got serious. Oh, don't forget to always look good" she said with a wink. I smiled at how I was turning the tables on him now. I nodded, grabbing a brush from my drawer and combing through my tangled hair to make it shine. I replaced my ratty t-shirt with one of Amelia's and put some perfume on.

"And the _Battle of the Sexes_ has begun!" she said with a mischievous look on her face. I was going to make him wish he was never born.

***

"Man, I swear. Tampa Bay sucks" said Iggy. Fang snorted and flipped through the rest of the sport channels, looking for something interesting. Gosh, having cable was awesome.

"Have you seen their Quarterback? Johnson is no Hasslebeck" said Iggy.

"What's with you and Seattle? We both know the Buccaneers are good" retorted Fang. He heard a voice in the corner of the room and looked to his left. Fang's jaw dropped and he could feel his cheeks redden. Max was standing in the living room entrance, a clever smile on her lips and she had her eyebrow cocked. She was wearing denim short shorts and a tank top that showed her midriff.

"Why don't you two stop fawning over football teams and help with our mission. Plus, we all know the Patriots are the best" she said with a wink. Iggy recovered quickly and retorted.

"Ha! You gotta' be kidding" he smirked. She turned to Fang, with a glint in her eye.

"You okay?" she asked.

"F-fine" he muttered, a little breathless. "Why are you dressed like that again?"

"Its summer, loser" she joked and winked. Fang swallowed. She went outside with an absent-minded wave in their direction. She seemed fine, like this morning never happened.

"I'm blind and I can see the tension" Iggy chuckled.

"I don't know what you're talking about" Fang muttered.

"Ha-ha, she's got you pinned. It's obvious she's trying to get you to doubt your choice" Iggy said.

"What do you mean? She doesn't look like she even cares" Fang said.

"Girls don't get over us that easy. She's playing with your head, man. And if this was a competition, she would be winning" teased Iggy.

"There's no chance for that. I'll have to talk to her" Fang said.

"No, don't! This is war, okay? You gotta' mess with her too. I say, use what you have, which in our case is Amelia" Iggy said.

"Your right, she was pretty jealous at the start" Fang mused. "I'm gonna' put her back in her place"

"Fang for the win!" cheered Iggy.

***

The sun felt nice on my skin, with a slight breeze blowing through my hair. Fang had been stunned, lost for words which I think is an accomplishment. I rolled my shoulders and craned my head to the sun. Amelia was busy reading a book on the terrace behind me and a large thick hedge separated us.

"Hey" said a voice. The greeting wasn't for me. I turned to look at Amelia through the hedge. Fang was hovering over her, looking at her book.

"_Wuthering Heights_? Never heard of it" he said, commenting on the book. I moved closer to the hedge, knowing he couldn't see me.

"I'm not surprised, you don't seem like you can read" sneered Amelia.

"Are you angry at me?" asked Fang, noticing her tone.

"I don't like when people lie. And I dislike it even more when people use me to lie" she said.

"I never wanted-" Fang began.

"Cut the crap, Fang. You love Max and you are angry. It's a bad combination. Stop being an idiot and drop the act" she retorted. Fang didn't seem surprised at Amelia's forwardness.

"You're right, I do love her. But it's hard to love someone when they hurt you like she hurts me. I'm not acting, I am actually interested in what you're reading, or where you use to go" he said.

"Prove it" she said.

"I came to ask you if you wanted to take us to that quarry tomorrow night" he said. Amelia was quiet for a second and then sighed.

"Fine, that would be great" she said.

"Cool, thank you Amy" Fang said. He said it in that voice, that voice he uses to say my name with. I swallowed, seeing how her eyes flickered.

"I-I need to get back to my book" she stuttered. He nodded and left her alone. When he was gone, she looked straight at me through the hedge.

"I'm sorry" was all she said and closed her book. She stood up and went inside as well.

Crap.

***

Fang watched the sun outside from his bedroom window. He felt this heavy weight of guilt pull him down. What he had done was wrong, and for the wrong reason but somehow it made him feel better when he saw her look at him with longing. Amelia had become a muse to him almost, he was interested in her, but not in that way. He watched the sun sink slowly. Yesterday he had asked Amelia to go the quarry, and he was excited. The nights were humid in Tampa, so he was only wearing a t-shirt and swimming shorts that Amelia had given him. There was a quick rap on his door and he turned.

"Ready?" asked Amelia, the excitement clear on her face.

"Yeah" he said, heading to her.

They all piled into Amelia's Ford Hatchback, squeezed in like a can of winged-sardines. Amelia was at the wheel and Max sat next to her while Fang, Iggy and Nudge were in the back seats and Angel and Gazzy were on their knees in the trunk space.

"You sure this is safe?" asked Amelia, glancing worriedly back at them.

"We've had worse, dog crates aren't much more comfortable" said Max. Amelia chuckled and pulled out of the drive way.

***

We stopped at the end of a dirt road and followed a small trail with our towels under our arms for about five minutes until we could hear the bubbling and splashing of water. Amelia turned abruptly into some tree branches and pushed the aside, revealing the quarry. Clear water pushed through a great big hole in inky black-purplish rocks and into a large damn that flowed out in a small stream head south. It was too weak to carry anything more than twigs and leaves but the pressure of the water fall was powerful. The sun was almost gone and the sky turned orange.

"We should probably make a fire" said Amelia, taking off the guitar hanging over her shoulder. The boys darted into the thick forest and came back with piles of wood in their arms after a few minutes.

After we got the fire started, it was almost so dark, I couldn't see my hand in front of my face but the stars lit up all around the night sky. It was beautiful. The boys took of their shirt and bombed into the water. They were shortly followed in by Angel and Nudge.

"How's the water?" I called to them. Fang popped out of the water first, his black wet hair and eyes were the same color as the water while the light of the flames lit his face.

"Surprisingly warm, it's nice" he said in a pleasant voice. I wasn't expecting him to answer me, I only nodded.

"I'll show you the way up to the waterfall so you can jump from there" said Amelia. "Luckily we brought the waterproof flashlights because we're gonna' need them"

"Okay, that sounds fun" he said. Amelia took off her clothes, showing off her bikini. I didn't have to look to imagine Fang's face.

***

Fang tried to look normal and cool about it but honestly he was very uncomfortable. Amelia was practically naked, standing in front of him. _Please, god! Let Angel not be reading my thoughts right now! _Fang thought.

"I think I might as well join you" said Max, looking slightly uncomfortable as well. Fang looked away while she removed the clothes that were covering her swimsuit. When he looked at her again, he wished there was some way of removing his eyes because his cheeks suddenly flushed and he almost drowned. They both were now practically naked in front of him. He could see how uncomfortable Max was, her cheeks were flushed and she wasn't looking at him. Amelia jumped in and Max followed her. When they both resurfaced, Fang felt a little less embarrassed.

"Okay, we have to dive deep but there's a small underwater cave that leads up into the hollow base of the waterfall. From there you can climb onto the rocks until you find the opening that's just under the water fall. It's best to jump from there" she said, with excitement.

***

We followed Amelia deep underwater, until the pressure in my ears was almost painful. I still felt uncomfortable in this monkey suit, and it will be even worse when I have to climb up to the waterfall. We swam into a shadow where the moon didn't reach anymore. This must have been the cave. We followed her up until our heads broke through the water. I gasped for air as my lungs burned from holding my breath so long. We climbed out and she pointed up where we could see the luminous glow of the moon.

"Up there" she said and started climbing. We followed. The rocks jutted out but were like shadows and looked flat from far back. They were slippery and you could easily fall if you didn't have a good grip. It was too hard to fly up because there wasn't enough space of our wings to be able to stretch out. When we finally reached to the top, I rested against the rocky wall. We watched Amelia jump first. It did look like fun. I went second and Fang followed. The feeling of falling was sometimes scary, but this time it was amazing, like when you do a bomb dive from high up and pull up at last minute only this time you could just fall into warm water.

After all of us looked like drowned rats, we sat around the fire on our towels, letting it dry us. Amelia picked up her guitar and starts to pluck freely on it, humming gently. It was almost hypnotic.

***

Fang watched her, intently. Amelia had a pleasant smile on her lips, her eyes closed and she was humming a sweet melody. It was mesmerizing, she seemed so at ease. She was pretty good too; her voice was nice and soothing. What the sun does for Max, the moon does for Amelia. Her pale skin became luminous and her green eyes mellowed and deepened, unlike their usual glassy look. She looked up at Fang then and smiled for a second then looked down again. He felt another pair of eyes on him. He turned, getting caught in two big blue eyes. Angel was staring at him, her mouth set down in a frown. Guilt filled Fang again and he looked away quickly. Suddenly Max began to hum with her. Unlike Amelia's smooth, light voice, Max's was heavy and coarse but still intriguing. The mixture was like listening to a pop star and a rock star singing together. It was even more hypnotic then before. Fang looked at Max. She seemed so much more comfortable now; her face was peaceful like Fang has never seen it. He's never heard her sing before, but she could sing well. She stopped and sighed, looking up at the stars.

"I think I'll go for another jump" said Amelia, putting her guitar down, dropping the song which made everything feel awkward.

"Me too" said Iggy, following her to the water's edge. Fang decided to follow, he felt like jumping again.

When they got up there, Iggy pushed past him, and jumped from the hole. He Iggy fall and splash into the water.

"It's beautiful here" said Fang. Amelia nodded a smile on her lips.

"You're a good singer and guitarists. I always wanted to learn but I'm haven't had the chance" Fang said, smirking bitterly.

"I could teach you if you'd like" she said, looking outside.

"Okay"

Amelia ran her hand down the face of the rocks.

"Ow!" she hissed, pulling her hand away quickly. Small drop of blood were running down her hand.

"Are you okay?" asked Fang, instinctively reaching for her hand. He picked it up and held it to the moonlight. There was a small jagged cut in the center of her palm. She looked up at him in surprise.

"It's okay" she mumbled.

"We should clean it so you won't get an infection" said Fang. He led her to the edge of the cavern where the water fell and supported her hand under the water. The blood flowed away and the wound was clean. He turned to her and smiled. Their faces were surprisingly close and Fang felt a little awkward. She leant closer and he didn't move. Suddenly there was a scream and her head wizzed back.

"Angel! Watch out!" he heard Gazzy scream. They ran to the edge, looking out at the open space. Fang's jaw fell open.

"Oh no" murmured Amelia.

***

I watched Iggy fall from the mouth of the rocks. His head appeared after a few seconds and he swam to the edge and climbed out. I didn't want to look up there then; they had been up there too long. I focused on something else and looked into the forest. Iggy stopped suddenly next to me, his eyes focused.

"Did you hear that?" he asked. I focused on listening, hearing the small crack of a twig, then another but on the other side of the quarry.

"Iggy, get Angel and Nudge out of the water" I muttered, standing up slowly. Iggy ran to them quickly, but it wasn't quick enough. Somehow, when hell descends it's always on us.

Out of nowhere, about ten Erasers leapt from the trees, surrounding us, but there was one thing I noticed straight away. They weren't the usual ones. There movements were so much more quiet and swift. And they weren't the ugly mongrels they used to be either. They had the hair but it was shaggy and they seemed so much more human with hands instead of paws but they still had the claws and the muscles.

"New batch, guys" I murmured to the rest of the flock.

"Angel! Watch out!" screamed Gazzy when one ran straight at her. They were lightening fast, almost as fast as us. I looked back, seeing Fang and Amelia jump from the cave opening, snapping out there wings. The landed just a few meters away from the Erasers and all of them took a step back.

"What now?" I heard Fang said. I looked up at the sky, it would be too hard to get flying and then we would be easy targets.

"Fight" I said.

The first to move was the one in front of me. He took a punch at me, I leapt back and he missed. He came back with a round house kick that landed in my stomach. I fell back, wheezing for air. They were definitely stronger. He jumped on me, trying to get his hands around my neck but a joined my hands in big ball and smacked him hard on his temple. He rolled away, hissing. I looked around, seeing the rest of them trying to do the same to the flock.

"Max!" screamed Fang but it was too late. The Eraser's massive hand smashed down in-between my wings. I reeled forward, my eyes watering because of the pain. Amelia's hand was bent toward my direction and suddenly the Eraser caught on fire. He shrieked, rolling frantically on the ground. I watched in horror as his skin melted. I gave him one strong kick on his temple and he was unconscious. I ran from the burning corpse and tackled Angel's Eraser to the ground. It was like tackling a ton of bricks. I punched him in his face and he ran his claws through my chest. I screamed and punched him again and again, my vision going red. Angel held my shoulder and told me to stop.

"He's dead" she muttered and ran to Nudge so they could finish that Eraser off as well. Fang had knocked his one out and there were about three other burning corpses scattered around the clearing. The other's made for the trees. I was questioning whether to follow them but what Amelia said stopped me.

"Max, you're bleeding" she said.

"Well, duh" I said, feeling the scratches on my chest burn.

"No, I mean you're bleeding badly" said Amelia. I looked to my chest, seeing how the t-shirt has already soaked through with blood and it was still pouring. As the adrenaline passed, I could feel my head reel. Last thing I remembered was falling into Fang's arms and hearing Nudge's frantic sobs.


	10. Chapter 10

William Hurst scrolled through the information, sipping slowly from his cup of tea. He could hear the clamour of footsteps out in the hall leading to his door. He's body guard looked nervously at the door, ready to take action.

"Relax, James. It's only my daughter" he said with a sly smile. The door smashed open, almost clipping James in the head. She was standing there, her face contorted in pure anger.

"How dare you! You had no right to hurt them!" she yelled.

"My dear, how was your trip? I hope satisfactory" he said, ignoring the blood lust in her eyes. A snarl ripped from her throat and William cocked an eyebrow.

"Please don't do that, it's so unlady-like" he scoffed.

"You have no idea what damage you have caused" she retorted, her voice low.

"A few cuts and bruises has never killed anybody" he put lightly.

"There is a girl, fighting for her life because of you!"

"Well maybe she should fight a little harder" Will said with a content smile. He heard a crackle and looked up at her savage smiling face. He looked to his side, seeing one of his curtains being engulfed by flames.

"James! Get the extinguisher!" he ordered. The body guard grabbed the red cylinder and sprayed the foam over the curtain quickly, sweat dripping from his brow. The flames died down, licking the curtain until they were gone. Both of them were panting, looking at the curtain wide-eyed. William took a deep breath and ran his hand through his greying hair. His blazing eyes turned to his daughter.

"Now why would you do something like that to your own father?" he asked, a smile toying around on his lips.

"You're not my father, you were just in the right place at the right time" she retorted.

"Yes, and if I wasn't there, you would of joined your family in their burning nightmare" he said. She looked away, swallowing the tears.

"Why did you send them?" she asked, her voice frail.

"We needed to see if you haven't lost sight of why you are there" he said.

"And why am I there? Because I feel like I'm losing reason to be there in the first place" she said.

"You there to play nice, make friends and then deliver them to me. Nothing else, you know what would happen if you refuse to co-operate" William said. "All of this would be gone for you" he said with a coy smile.

"What if it doesn't matter to me? What if I don't need any of this?" she asked, her face annoyed. "I don't need you, William. I never needed you; I took your charity so I could find my own way. Not your way!"

"James, could we have some privacy" said William. James left swiftly from the room, not looking back. William sighed and sat back down in his chair.

"You took my charity because you had nowhere else to go and you were desperate. I still remember how you screamed when you had those nightmares and who was there to wake you and sing you back to sleep? Me!" he retorted, angrily.

"You may have sung me to sleep but that lullaby turned into an omen somewhere along the line" she said. "So tell me William, no tricks! What if I just left?" she asked him.

"Then Oliver would have to leave with you. If you don't follow the rules then poor Oliver would have to suffer for it" said William. He knew that would work.

"Oliver is your son!" she retorted.

"And you are my daughter! Yet you are making death threats" he said. She looked away for a second, trying to think of something to counter him.

"Let us not ruin dear Oliver's future for your own benefit" said William. Even though his argument as unlikely, she wouldn't take a chance on a man like William.

"Yes" she said losing all power and force she had not too long ago.

"Yes what?" he asked.

"Yes Sir" she repeated. He smiled pleasantly at her as she left.

"Keep in touch, Amelia" he said with a victorious smile before she closed the door.

The sleepy sun started to fade through the blinds, shinning faintly on Max's pale hand. Fang has never seen her hand so pale, now he was trying to comprehend how her hand could be so pale. He'd been watching her for three days, 2 hours and 34 minutes. He hadn't slept but that's okay, she's sleeping enough for the both of them. All he wanted was for her eyes to open, for those big brown eyes to look into his. He reached over and pulled her hand to his chest, pressing the fingertips where his heart is.

"Feel that? You still have one of those" he choked out. He cleared his voice and continued.

"When you fell into my arms, I stopped breathing; you scared every bit of hell out of me. You waking up is the only thing I need right now, the only thing I want. Life is good, life is beautiful and life is short and I know so far your life has sucked but I'm willing to give every day to make you think otherwise if you wake up, because I don't want to live in a world where I can't see your smile" he choked out the last sentence, a stray tear rolling down his cheek. He wiped it away quickly.

Fang sighed and sat back against the chair, placing her hand back on her stomach. He'd be here when she woke up. He doesn't need to sleep; she's sleeping enough for the both of them.

Angel, Gazzy, Nudge and Iggy were downstairs. The television was on with the volume low but no one was watching.

"Where's Amy?" asked Nudge.

"She went for a fly" said Iggy.

Angel knew that this was only a half truth. She felt the anger and confusion that was swirling chaotically in Amelia's mind. Angel didn't tell the others though, they needed someone right now, and they needed Amelia. Angel was reluctant to have Max as leader but now she would give anything just to have Max awake.

Amelia was racing through the halls, trying to get out before the tears fell. She tried to get away but to hands grabbed her arms from behind.

"Amy, there you are. Where've you been?" said a deep soothing voice. She knew that voice so well and she collapsed in his arms, letting the tears fall.

"What's wrong?" he asked, holding her head to his chest.

"He's a monster!" she coughed out.

"Who is?" he asked. She looked up at his face, his placid green eyes and blonde short curls that fell around his face. She couldn't believe that he was William's son.

"Your father, Oliver! Your father!" she repeated.

"Come with me" he said, pulling her into one of the empty laboratories in the hall. He placed her on the counter and whipped away her stray tears.

"Now tell me what he did?" asked Oliver.

"He almost killed them" she choked out.

"Killed who?" asked Oliver, shaking her a little.

"The bird kids" she said. Oliver took a step back and looked at her.

"I know their like you, Amy. But you need to get it into your head that they are not your family" said Oliver, his voice coarse. Amelia looked at him, her eyes blazing.

"You're on his side?" she rumbled.

"No! I'm on nobody's side. God, Amelia! Do you think they'll let you back with open arms when they find out why you really went to find them?" he asked, incredulous.

"Maybe, I have to try" she said.

"Dad wouldn't like this" he murmured.

"Do you even know what you're precious father-" she began.

"Yes! I know what he said, okay? That's why I'm not letting you ruin this. I'm not going to lose you and I'm not going to lose this life that I have!" he hissed.

"Even if it's fake?" she yelled at him.

"Do you have any idea of how thin our ice is right now? I need time to set up a place where both of us can be safe so we can get out. But until then, you need to follow with orders" he said.

"She's dying, Oliver. She's on thinner ice then we are. You have to do something" she said. He looked at her, his eyes softening.

"I'll figure something out" he said and opened the door for her to go. "I'll see you soon" he said, giving her a small hug. The hug was quick and Amelia ran from the room, heading for the car park. She wasn't going to take no for an answer. If Oliver couldn't help, she would find someone who will.

Fang could hear something land on the roof and he checked out of the window. It was Amelia. She came through the window, with a determined look in her eye.

"How is she?" asked Amelia.

"I don't know, the same I guess" murmured Fang. She pulled him into a hug. His arms curled around her waist slowly and were lose and frail. She could feel his chin rest on her shoulder.

"Everything will be okay soon" she murmured into his ear. He took a step back and looked at her.

"What are you talking about?" he asked, cautiously.

"I'm going to fix this" she said.

"How? Whose going to help seven bird kids and a flying dog?" asked Fang, sceptical.

"I'll find someone, I'll be quick I promise" she said looking back at Max. "But just encase this doesn't go to plan" she said and swept in, kissing Fang on the mouth. Her lips were warm and soft, different to Max. They weren't as determined, they were calm. She stepped back, leaving her hand on his cheek.

"You're a good guy, Fang. Their lucky to have you" she said. She opened the window again and jumped out, unfurling her beautiful black wings. He watched her fly until she was a little spec in the distance. He sighed, that kiss was different but in a good way, a way that he couldn't explain. His cheeks were still bright red when he went downstairs to check up on the rest of the flock. They were all sitting around the living room, their faces seemed hollow.

"Guys, Amy went to find somebody to help" said Fang. Nudge looked at him first, her eyebrows rising.

"Who? Dr. Martinez?" asked Nudge, getting that hopeful look in her eye. Fang hated to make that look disappear, but he needed them to be realistic about Max's chances.

"No. I don't know, and neither does she, butwe're going to find to help" he said.

"That way dangerous" said Iggy.

"It's a risk we're willing to take, isn't it?" asked Fang. Everyone nodded, determinedly.

"Alright then, everybody be on the lookout though, and Angel?" said Fang. Angel looked up at him.

"Keep tabs on the visitor's mind" he said without hesitation. She nodded at him, her eyes started to become watery. He moved over to the sofa where Gazzy was sitting and he fell onto it. He was afraid that Amelia would come back empty handed, there was a huge chance that it might happen. An hour later, Iggy looked up from his lap.

"Car" he said. Fang looked outside the windows. Sure enough, a black sedan came through the gate and up the dirt path and stopped in front of the garage. It wasn't a car that Fang could recognize, nor could he see through the tinted windows.

"Hide" he whispered, crouching down under the window. Everybody did as they were told, shifting behind sofas and taking cover under coffee tables. He could hear someone talking by the window. Suddenly glass showered down on the floor and Fang's heart stopped.

"Guys!" came a call from the window. It was Amelia's voice, filled with worry. Fang stood up and looked at her through the gaping hole in the window. She smiled, relieved.

"God, I thought somebody had taken you guys hostage when I didn't see anybody" she said. Everybody slowly appeared from their hiding places. Behind her stood a tall man with blondish hair and green eyes. He had a cautious look on his face, but seemed harmless enough.

"Come with me" she said, taking him to the front door.

When they were upstairs, the flock surrounded Max's bed, looking at the man. He turned out to be a doctor, who worked at a clinic, a few miles away. After Amelia told him the story, he reluctantly agreed to help. She seemed to trust him so easily though, telling him of what happened. She said it's better for him to know exactly what happened so he could prescribe the best treatment. He put his hand on Max's forehead and frowned.

"She has a fever" he murmured, pulling away the covers. Fang had put bandages around the wounds, quickly. They were around her chest, so he didn't take the shirt off. The shirt was now, soaked completely through with blood. The doctor listened to her heart for a few seconds and nodded. "And she has an abnormally fast heart beat" he said. He called Fang closer and listened to his heartbeat, Fang froze.

"Her heart rate is faster" he said. "Can two of you run down to the car and get out the big, black duffle bag and the steel hanger, it looks like a coat hanger" he said, not looking back. Nudge and Iggy ran down to get the stuff.

"It's better for those two to get out as well, we need some space" he said, pointing at Gazzy and Angel. They left reluctantly, but not without taking one last look at Max. When the other two came back and dropped off the supplies, the doctor –named Gerald- zipped open the duffel bag and removed a pair of scissors. He slowly cut open the bandages and t-shirt and peeled them away, revealing huge gashes, that seemed worse of then before Fang had wrapped them.

"Looks like she has an infection" he said, cutting away her bikini top as well. Fang looked away out of respect and down at his shoes.

"Okay, now I'll wipe away the blood and clean the wounds" narrated Dr. G so Fang could know what was going on as well. "You guys will have to do this twice a day so look closely" he said. That took about 15 minutes.

"Let's start wrapping you up, dear" he murmured. After about 5 minutes, she had new clean bandages on. Fang looked up now and saw Gerald take out a needle and a tiny bottle. Fang bit down on his lip.

"It's just some antibiotics to bring down the swelling and to fight the infection" he said, putting the needle just under her skin and pushing down on the plug. The clear liquid flowed in, gently. He wiped the area with some alcoholic wipes and put his finger on it and supplied pressure.

"Okay, that's that. Now, for the fever" he said. "How old is she?" he asked.

"15" answered Fang.

"How much does she weigh?" asked Dr. G.

"Not a lot, maybe around 35 kg" he said. "Because of our bones are lighter" he said.

"Okay, then I won't use aspirin" he said, digging around in his bag. He pulled out another small vile of clear liquid, one new clean syringe and two needles and some weird looking plug thing. He rolled the steel hanger and hooked a bag of another clear liquid onto it and stuck a needle in her hand, he then stuck the plug behind it and connected it to the drip.

"She's dehydrated, so keep her on that for a while and every two hours it should be empty so swap it with another one" he said, pulling six more out of his bag. "And give her three doses of Ibuprofen during the day, this would help with the fever, but keep ice and wet towels around as well, okay?" he said, injecting the other clear liquid into the drip.

After he checked her heart rate again and pulled the covers over her, we went downstairs.

"Are any of you guys hurt as well?" he asked.

"Nothing serious" said Fang. He nodded and walked outside to his car.

"I'll bring over more drips but don't use them all at once. I can't give you a lot so as soon as she wakes up, only give her water" he said, getting into his car.

"When will she wake up?" asked Fang. Dr. G rolled down his window and looked up at Fang.

"I don't know, kid. That's up to her" he said with a sad smile. "Good luck" he said and reversed out.

"We'll need it, I guess" murmured Fang. Amelia came to stand next to him.

"Nudge and I will do the bandaging, you can change the drip" she said, put her arm around his shoulders.

"Amelia, listen about the kiss-" Fang began nervously.

"Relax, Fang. We won't tell her until we're ready to" said Amelia, walking inside. _Tell her what?_ Thought Fang.


	11. Chapter 11

It took two days of constant care and watch after the doctor's visit for my eyes to open, _they_ said. All I remembered was waking up from a heavy sleep and feeling like somebody had slashed me open. Somebody had so I wasn't surprised. What my eyes opened to was something that would of put me straight to being unconscious, at least I wished it had. Fang and Amelia were kissing, locked in an embrace. I closed my eyes again and groaned so they'd think I haven't seen them yet.

"Max?" I heard Fang say. "Max!"

I opened my eyes as he rushed to the bed. He put his warm hand in mine and looked at me. I felt like breaking his fingers but resisted the urge.

"How are you feeling?" he asked. Amelia looked over his shoulder at me, anxiously.

"Like a truck decided to run me over" I muttered, trying to sit up but there was a painful whine on my chest. I winced and Fang supported my back, pulling me up slowly.

"Be careful, we didn't stitch your wounds because they were infected" he said. "A doctor will be coming around today to do that" he informed me.

"A doctor? From where, the Avian's children society? You know that's dangerous" I lectured him.

"He saved your life, so I wouldn't be picky if I were you" said Fang, stubbornly.

"At least she has enough energy to argue" joked Amelia.

"Yeah, at least for that!" I snapped at her. She raised her eyebrow but said nothing. Fang looked back at her and smiled.

"Can you get the rest of the flock, please?" he asked her. She nodded and smiled at him. My stomach turned. Oh brother. When she left, Fang turned back to me.

"Do you feel warm at all?" he asked, putting the back of his hand against my forehead.

"No, do you?" I asked, sarcastically. He smirked and flicked my nose.

"So I guess you are okay, that was a close one" he said, his eyes becoming darker. I didn't answer.

"Do you remember anything?"

"I remember blacking out and then waking up" I muttered, not looking at his face. He frowned at me.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Except for the obvious, nothing" I said, which was true. "By the way, once I get out of this damn bed, we're leaving straight away" I said.

"Why?" he asked.

"It's not safe here, they know where we are and they'll come back" I said.

"Then we'll fight!" he countered.

"And then have another accident like this? Somebody could die Fang! These aren't the regular Erasers we've been up against" I said. "And how do you expect me to fight them?"

"I'll fight for you! When I was alone, I had to do it from myself!" he retorted.

"Let's not discuss this now" I muttered. I sighed and sagged against the wall. I hated when he spoke about the time he left us. I didn't want to hear it, not now. Dylan left us a few months after him too, 'perfect mate' my ass.

After a few hours of the flock surrounding me, cooing over me and giving hugs, I was beat. When I woke up again, Amelia was there, watching over me in silence.

"What?" I asked her. She shrugged.

"Nothing to say, huh? No apologies, or explanations?" I asked her. She smirked.

"I knew that you knew. I'm sorry, okay? I can't explain what happened between us, but something did and I'm not going to give it up so don't ask me to" she said. I glared at her.

"I can't believe this. While I was unconscious, you decided to play house with the flock! How'd it feel to be the leader? Remember the feeling because you won't ever feel it again!" I hissed at her.

"Nobody played house! We were too sick of worrying about you to even care about who was leader, even Angel" she said.

"Don't talk about them like you know them! You were the outcast remember?" I said. She glared at me.

"You know what? You shouldn't be a leader, Max. You're too selfish to see past your own wants for the best of your flock!" she hissed and left the room. I groaned and hit my fist against the bed. That evening a doctor called Gerald showed up at the door. He was young, he looked about 20 and he had kind eyes.

"it's good to see you awake" he said when he came in with Amelia following. I didn't know where the rest were.

"You've got no idea" I said and he chuckled.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Tired, a little pain" I said.

"Good, does she still have the infection in her wounds?" he asked Amelia.

"No, it looked good last time I bandaged her" she replied.

"How are you with needles?" he asked, whipping out a bended sowing needle and some thick black string.

"I'm not going to lie doc, not so good" I said, feeling my heart rate pick up.

"Well then, I'm going to need you to close your eyes then" he said. "You can hold Amelia's hand if you need to" he said, pulling on some gloves.

"I'm definitely not afraid enough to do that" I said. He smirked and opened up my shirt. I tried not to blush. I closed my eyes when I felt the needle go in. It wasn't very painful, just uncomfortable to feel the skin being tugged. I breathed in deeply, feeling a warm hand wrap around my hand. I opened my eyes to see Amelia looking away, with her hand in mine and a stubborn look on her face. I hate to say this but it made me feel a little better so I didn't let go.

"Okay, we're done" he murmured and I opened my eyes. The two deep lines across my chest were now sown shut which looked a little gruesome. I let go of Amelia's hand, embarrassed and stubborn.

"This is probably the last time you will see me" he said, packing his things up.

"What about the stitches?" I asked.

"As the wounds heal, they'll either fall out or can be cut out using nail clippers, just make sure all of them are out" he said, going out the door. I watched his car pull out of the drive way from my bed and drive off. There was a quick rap on my door and I looked up.

"Hey" said Fang, coming in.

"Hey" I said.

"Amelia told me that you know about us" he said, guilt crossing his face. He didn't try to hide it. "I know you are angry and I know you hate me but it just happened" he explained.

"I am angry but I don't hate you, Fang. I just don't want to hear this right now" I said, feeling my eyes sting.

"We're not going to stop or hide it from you. I'm just warning you now" he said.

"I didn't expect you to" I said.

"So you accept it?" he asked.

"I accept it as it is. But I don't necessarily like it" I said. "It's kind of like me getting with Dylan"

"No its not" he murmured angrily.

"You know it is, Fang, except the difference is I won't become dramatic and leave my flock behind!" I retorted. He looked away, not saying anything.

"It's kind of like De ja vu" I said.

"I'm not leaving you" he explained.

"So you say" I said, looking out of the window. It was sheeting rain and the thunder drawled on. "If you want my blessing, then you have it. Now get out" I said. He stood up and left. I hated not being able to leave this damn room, I hated it so that I decided to go for a stroll. It was hard and painful at first, my legs felt like dead weight as I tried to shift them over to the side of the bed. My feet thumped down on the wooden floor awkwardly, it felt like I was only starting to learn to walk. I forced myself up and balanced myself taking small steps. I felt my muscles waking up and my balance return. Then I stretched my wings out, feeling them ache at the joints for being locked in the same place for days. I stretched them out as far as they would go and the tips grazed the walls. I sighed, rolling my shoulders.

I walked downstairs slowly, holding onto the railing for support. When I got downstairs the flock looked up, eyes wide.

"What are you doing? You should be in bed!" said Angel, standing up.

"I'm fine, Dr. Doolittle. See?" I said, spinning around. She sat back down but didn't take her weary eyes off me. Gazzy ran to the ottoman at grabbed the blanket that was on it and threw it over me when I sat down. I smiled at him and he giggled.

"I should almost die more often" I said. "A bird kid can get used to this" I said, winking. Angel got up from her seat and jumped up gently onto my lap, resting her 7 year old head under my chin, careful not to touch my chest.

"You had me worried" she murmured. My eyes stung and my throat dried up. She hasn't been like this in months. I wrapped my arms around her and kissed her on the head.

"I could say the same for you" I said. Nobody noticed us, acting like things never changed and Angel never traded us for doctor Uberweird and his inventions for the perfect world. Everything felt back in place except for one detail, Fang.

"Where's Fang?" I asked.

"With Amelia, they went flying" said Nudge. I bit my tongue, stopping a thousand profanities from passing my lips. I was supposed to be fine with this.

"Seeing that it's raining, why don't we make some pancakes" I said, smiling.

"You mean, 'why don't Iggy make us some pancakes'" Iggy smirked, walking to the kitchen. I laughed and followed him. A few minutes later Fang and Amelia decided to join us. That night we spent making pancakes, watching Gazzy try to flip them so they would stick to the roof and Nudge blab on about her bird species, again. Everything seemed alright, which meant that we should be leaving soon. Once you stay in one place to long, things tend to get personal.

After I tucked Nudge and Angel in and told Iggy and Gazzy to put away their bombs- the usual for me- I finally went to bed. It was nice to see that there was no longer any drips or needles or medicine next to my bed, Fang had moved it. I was already healing fast, few of my stitches fell out already. Things were finally going good, well mostly.


	12. Chapter 12

"Max, get up. We're going sightseeing" I heard a bell-like voice say.

"Like hell we are" I murmured into my pillow. I hear the curtains shift apart and sharp light drained into my eyes. I groaned and sat up, feeling my hair roll around in a messy clump.

"And whose bright idea was this again?" I asked.

"Nudge's" said Amelia, opening her closet. "There's a mall around where we're going so now we can buy clothes"

"I curse the name of Nudge" I mumbled and fell back into bed.

"C'mon Max, this is important. We've hardly been out of the house, we're turning into hermits" she said.

"Correction, hermits with wings" I murmured and got up. "What's more important is us leaving this god forsaken house for good before the mutts come back for seconds" I said, watching her pick out clothes from the closet. It's been three weeks since the little escapade and we're still here at the house. I've been trying to get the flock to go but none of them want to. They rather sit here and try to fight for the house, which to me sounds like a death sentence. Fang propaganda must've gotten to them.

"Staying" she said. "They like it here and I like it here. Don't you?"

"Of course I like it, but it's not safe" I said. "They know where we are"

"Then why haven't they attacked again?"

"Because maybe their regrouping or something" I said. She sighed and threw jeans and a white button down blouse with little rouging on the front.

"I'm supposed to wear that?" I asked her. "What about my wings?"

"Everything has slits in the back now. You can wear this jacket over it" she said, taking out a black leather jacket and throwing it onto my bed as well. "It's raining anyways, it's almost Autumn"

So now we were packed into the car like winged sardines again. Amelia had put in a CD that I think she said was by some neurotic pop singer but it was all she had in CD form so we coped. The ride there was hectic, I was completely on edge, looking out for police cars like we were criminals. We stopped in a parking lot and walked to a large square with a huge fountain in the middle and a bunch of people walking from direction to the next. Great.

We first went to the mall which was a whole new experience for me. I spent an hour or so finding enough close to last the next 10 years while it took us 3 hours just to find a pair of shoes for Nudge. We spent a lot of money on swanky clothes.

"Just try it on, you need one of these!" said Nudge, outside the changing room. I didn't much like being in this small cubical and undressing in front of security cameras. We were pushing our luck, I could just feel it. I looked down at the beautiful black dress that Amelia had picked out for me and swallowed. I put it on carefully, trying not to rip it, thank god it was backless. When would I ever wear this? A backless dress? Really? I might as well wear a huge neon sign that says "Winged child, eat me!"

"Come out Max, there's nobody here to see" said Nudge.

"Except you guys" I muttered. I took a breath and tried to get rid of the redness in my cheeks. I opened the cubical door quickly- too quickly- and pushed straight against someone's back. I bit on my tongue. _Please be Nudge, please be Nudge, please be Nudge!_ I pleaded to myself.

"Oh sorry, I didn't mean to stand in front of the door" said a deep voice. I sucked in a breath, wasn't Nudge. I looked up into hazel eyes and I suddenly forgot where I was.

"Hi" I said, my voice going way too high. It was a boy, a tall boy, a very cute, tall boy. Then I remembered that I wasn't a normal human being but a winged imp in a backless dress and the haze that clouded my mind lifted. I jumped back in _Max-mode_ and pressed my back firmly against the wall and pulled in my wings as tightly as possible.

"Are you okay?" he asked, looking at me like I was some sort of freak, which is kinda' ironic because well... I am. My cheeks and ears burned red as my shaky voice found my throat.

"Just fine, spank you" I said. God, kill me now.

"What?" he asked.

"I mean thanks, thank you!" I blurted. He smiled at me, not the response I was expecting.

"My name's Travis, by the way" he said, with a lopsided smile. I swallowed and gave a coy smile back.

"Max" I said, giving myself an internal forehead slap. Rule 1: Don't say your name to complete strangers that might turn out to be Erasers or other death bringing species.

"As in Maxine?" he asked.

"Yeah, sure" I said, and he laughed. I felt kind of good at that, I was at least funny.

"So, Max- maybe Maxine- did you come here with anybody?" he asked, smiling.

"I came with a group of friends" I said.

"So that guy whose giving me the glare is not your boyfriend?" he asked, hiking his thumb at Fang, who looked away quickly.

"No, don't mind him. He's a little weird" I said, pointedly. He nodded, looking a little pleased.

"Are you here with anybody?" I asked, not quite getting it out as smooth as he did.

"Nah" he said.

"Do you want to hang out with us?" I asked, not quite making the link between what I said to the actual activity. I was going to beat myself up for this later, but hey! It's a little payback at Fang.

"Yeah, that'd be great" he said, smiling.

"Cool, I'll just get changed" I said, closing the changing room door.

"Hey, Max?" yelled Travis.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"You look really pretty in that dress"

I didn't reply but I was beaming. I guess I like the mall, yeah the mall's pretty great. As I got out, I could only help but not laugh at Fang's face. He was angry, I could tell that and the way he was ignoring Travis was even better.

"So, how did you pick this one up?" whispered Amelia into my ear with a sly smile. Things were now okay between us, I had forgiven her and we were finally back to being friends. Things between me and Fang though was a different story.

"Practically with the changing room door" I said. She giggled and looked at him. I slapped her hand.

"Don't look at him!" I hissed through clenched teeth. She laughed even louder and I turned to see his face. He smiled at me, a puzzled look on his face. My face turned bright red in mortification when Amelia disappeared and Travis appeared next to me.

"So, are you guys going to Antarctica or what?" asked Travis, pointing to our shopping bags.

"Something like that" I said, smiling uncomfortably. My stomach rumbled loudly and my eyes widened. He looked at me and smiled.

"You hungry?" he asked.

"Oh, no. It's okay" I murmured. Amelia popped up behind me.

"You can go, we're only going to look for a dress for Nudge" she said, smiling. Before I could protest, she was pushing me and Travis to the food court.

"We'll meet up with you right here" she said, stopping just in front of the food court.

He chose a burger and so did I, it was a hard choice but more than one would've looked weird. As we sat at the table, I became more relaxed surprisingly. He was easy to be around, he talked for the most of the time and when it seemed like I couldn't answer a question, he'd change the topic. His hazel eyes were so pretty and dimples appeared when he smiled. He pushed his dark brown hair back every time his checks became red. He said it was a nervous habit.

"So, how old are you?" he asked me.

"Fifteen" I replied. He nodded. "You?"

"Sixteen" he said.

"So, would it be alright if I asked for your phone number?" he asked, wiping his mouth with a napkin.

"Yeah, sure" I said, digging around in my pockets for my phone. My heart was racing, as my fingers grazed the top of it. I pulled it out and scrolled down through my contacts until I found my own. I read it out to him and he thumbed in the numbers with his own phone.

"Cool, I'll give you a call later" he said, with a smile. I smiled back, my cheeks reddening. As we were walking towards our meet up spot, I could see the flock waiting. We stopped in front of them and faced each other. It suddenly became quite awkward and he smiled sheepishly.

"I guess I'll talk to you later" he said and I nodded, the same sheepish smile on my face. He leaned over and kissed me on my cheek. It was brisk but nice and he held my hand as he did. He let go of my hand and walked towards the exits to the parking lot.

"Is he joining too?" sneered Fang from behind me.

"No, I think we have enough for now" I replied politely, ignoring his smirk. I will not let him ruin my good mood. I felt Amelia's arm curl around mine and she smiled at me.

"He's really cute" she whispered in my ear and winked at me. I laughed nervously.

When we were back home, I stared at my phone that was lying on my bed. I don't know why I thought he would call back straight away but I held onto it like it was my lifeline. After what hours of waiting, it finally buzzed and I pounced on it like a predator. I flicked through the menu and saw that he had texted me.

_Hey, wanna meet up tonite? X T_

My heart pounded and blood gushed through my ears as I typed in my response.

_Yeah sure, what do you have in mind? _

After a minute, the phone buzzed again and my heart leapt.

_My fav place, I'll come and pick u up round 7-ish? X_

I texted him my address and as soon as I pressed the _send_ button, my adrenaline pumped through my blood. This was going to be a great night.


	13. Chapter 13

That night, I stared at myself in the mirror. I remember "eraser me" with such clarity, it felt like I was staring at her right at that moment. I was wearing what could only be remarked as a mistake. I played with the denim skirt, pulling it down and then up and then down again.

"Its just nerves, Max" said Amy, resting against the doorframe. "Now stop playing with it and let me do your hair"

"I was thinking of just leaving it like this" I said and she cocked an eyebrow at me.

"What's wrong with my hair?!" I demanded, my cheeks flashing red.

"Nothing, nothing. I just thought that it would look better down" she said and I practically ripped out the hair tie from frustration.

"Max, have you never gone on a date?" she asked and I glared at her.

"Yeah! But the last time doesn't really carry any good memories" I replied, thinking of that night when Ari showed up on my date with Sam.

"Tonight will be perfect, okay? You look great, he's great and tonight will just be-"

"_Great_?" I chipped in and she smirked at me. She combed out my hair and used what she called a "hot brush" to make my natural waves smoother and shinier. After a few scares that she might burn me with it, I was finally done. As I put my phone in the small purse-thing Amelia lent me, Fang came into the bedroom.

"Hey, Travis is downstairs" he said, his voice coloured with annoyance. I turned to look at him and I saw his eyes widen a little as he stared at me.

"What?" I asked, though I knew why he was staring and I smiled inwardly as he cleared his throat.

"Nothing. You look… nice" he muttered, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Thanks" I said, pushing past him. Travis was waiting by the doorway, his hands clutched together in front of him and he smiled as I greeted him.

"Hey" I said and he kissed me on my cheek, taking my hand again like he did back at the mall.

"Hello" he said, his dimples appearing as his smile broadened. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah" I said and quickly waved goodbye to the flock. His car was parked in the driveway; it was an old muscle car. He opened the door for me and I slid in as he closed the door and came around to the other side.

"So where are you taking me?" I asked nervously as he started the car. He turned the radio on to a song that I didn't know but I liked it.

"To the beach" he said, pointing at the back of the car. I turned to see a small picnic basket and a blanket. I hope he could fit a horse in there because I was starving.

As we drove, he put his arm around my shoulders and spoke about his school and about a football game that was coming up. It was surreal listening to him speak about normal things when my life so different, so not normal.

"How about you? I mean, I didn't see your parents or anything, do you go to school?' he asked and my heart began to throb.

"Oh well.. I-I" I stuttered, trying to come up with a story. "Our school has a short break… so me and my friends came here for a vacation" I replied, proud that I was able to come up with something so quick.

"Oh, so your not from here?" he asked and I shook my head.

"Nah, we're from Virginia" I said and he nodded, accepting the lie.

"I wish my parents gave me that kind of freedom" he said smiling and I shrugged, looking away. I thought of mom and Ella, wondering what they were up to, if they were okay, if they thought of me now and then. I didn't know if I should call them or not, the Erasers were back and stronger than ever and I was scared that they could find them, take them and even kill them. I shuddered against the thought.

"You okay?" asked Travis. He was staring at me out the corner of his eye.

"Yeah, yeah. I was just thinking" I murmured. I pushed those scary thoughts to the back of my head and focused on what was happening now: I was on a date with a really cute guy and I needed to enjoy tonight. His car pulled up in front of the beach, I could see the waves roll in and the smell of brine. The sand was soft and silky as we walked hand in hand down to the shore, close enough for the ocean to edge around our toes but far enough so it wouldn't touch the blanket. He had packed strawberries and sodas and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, about a dozen of them so I didn't complain. Around my fourth one I stopped wolfing them down and ate with a little more grace.

"You hungry?" he asked, an amused look on his face.

"A little" I confided and he chuckled.

"Well I'm glad you like them. I'm not a master chef, this was all I was capable of" he said.

"Its great, I prefer this over some swanky restaurant" I said, taking another bite.

"Thanks" he said, giving me a lopsided grin. "So what's Virginia like? I've never been out of Florida before"

"Its really green and hilly" I replied, shrugged. "It's alright I guess, I like Florida more"

"You get sick of it after a while, trust me" he said. We spoke for a while and then he began to explain to me about star signs, he even showed me a few. It was a clear night, it was perfect. When we climbed into the car to go home, a car had sped behind us while Travis was reversing. He rolled down his window and screamed several profanities in the guy's direction.

"Relax, Travis. Let it go" I said but he wouldn't. He clutched the wheel till I could see every tendon rise up from the skin and his knuckles become white, his nostrils flared and his jaw was tight. "Travis?" I murmured.

"Just let me be!" he barked, his eyes were seething. I sat there quietly; stunned by the way he was acting. This couldn't be the same guy I met at the mall. His grip around the steering wheel loosens and his head drops a little, a sigh escapes from his mouth. He reverses out of the parking; his eyes don't meet mine until we're almost at the house.

"I'm sorry I lost my temper" he said in a low voice. I shrugged, unable to get a word out. He looked at me apologetically and said, "I really am sorry, Max"

I looked at him; he generally looked sad and a little embarrassed. He took my silence for anger and he began explaining himself frantically.

"I've never been good with my temper and I just… I feel terrible for losing control like that, honest. I didn't know what came over me, I didn't want our first date to go like this" he says, frowning.

"It's okay, I get it. Don't worry about it" I say, taking his hand carefully.

"Are you sure? You don't have to act like its okay. I know its not" he says, looking hurt.

"It really is okay, Travis" I say, looking into his eyes. He nods, takes a deep breath and then blows it slowly through his nose. Then a small smile reappears on his face.

'Thanks, Max" he says, squeezing my hand as we pull into my driveway. He walks me to my door, looking at me now and then, cautiously. We chuckle nervously making a little small talk about how great the evening was, extracting his slight fit around the end. He leans in, takes my hand like always and kisses me, this time on the lips. I then ring the bell and Amy opens the door and giggles a little when I walk in, a stupefied but blissful look on my face.

"How was it?!" demanded Nudge, excitedly.

"I'll tell you tomorrow. You should be in bed by now" I tell her and she frowns, slumping upstairs. Angel walks over and clambers up into my arms so I can carry her to bed. I know she's seven, I know she should be able to do this on her own and probably can but I like having my old Angel back. I tuck them both in and go to my room, I feel a little tired after Travis' little melt down.

"Had fun?" asks Fang. He's leaning against my doorframe with a too-cool-to-care look on his face.

"Yes, it was perfect" I lie.

"Did you kiss him?" he asks, his eyes become a little hard.

"I don't think that's any of your business" I reply icily. "But if you have to know: yes, I did". He nods, then shrugs and leaves. His indifference hurts more than if he would've told me he hated Travis or if he hated me.

_"Had fun?" asks Amelia. Vaughn turns around and stares at her, he knew she was standing there all along. _

_"She's nice. Cute too, a little on the desperate side if you ask me" he say, smiling. "Almost gave myself away tonight though" he says, a little embarrassment in his eyes. _

_"What did you do?" she asked, her heart was caught in her throat, did he hurt her? _

_"Some ass pulled in behind me, scared the hell out of me" he says, smirking. "I had a tough time reeling in the temper" _

_"Please don't tell me you had a tantrum" she says with a giggle and his stare turns cold. _

_"You shouldn't make fun of me, I could snap your friend's neck in half" he replies, a chilling smile on his lips. All the humour leaves Amelia's face as she glares back at Vaughn. _

_"If you do that my father wouldn't be too happy with you" she says. _

_"And you'd probably be heart broken" he spits back. _

_"Please, you think I care about these bird-brains?" she scoffs. He comes closer until their faces are inches apart._

_"Actually, I do" he says. "I wonder, Amy. How do you live with yourself?" _

_"How do you live with yourself, Vaughn? Is it fulfilling playing a love interest surfer with the perfect tan?" her tone is amused but it's dripping with acid. "Though I got to say, the name's a little over the top if you ask me" _

_What's wrong with the name Travis?" demands Vaughn. _

_"It makes you sound like a farm boy" she replies and he tilts his head backs and laughs. "At least my name is classy" _

_"Whatever makes you sleep at night" he replies with an arrogant smile and gets into his car. "I'll see you later, Amy" he says winking at her as he drives away. She hates him almost as much as she hates Herston. She's more scared now then ever, what if he does lose control and hurts her, what would Max do if Vaughn goes full Eraser on her? _


End file.
